For many years the attitude of living healthy has become a primary concern of both men and women of all age groups. The need for exercise and healthy eating is now a way of life for a great majority of People.
To assist in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, many new products and concepts have been introduced. These can range from membership gyms and home exercise equipment to special foods and recipes for health-conscious eating. One of the primary concerns of the health-food industry is the ability to disclose to the consumer the nutrition information for a specific food. Most healthy-conscious individuals are very interested in the amount of calories, sodium and, especially fat that is present in the food they eat.
This information is especially helpful in meats such as beef and pork, which typically have a high percentage of fat. The determination of the percent fat in beef and pork currently requires considerable time and effort to produce accurate results due to the equipment needed to calculate the fat content. Obviously, if a device is available that is capable of quickly and accurately measuring the percent fat of beef and pork, it would greatly assist in the continuing maintenance of healthy-conscious individuals.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention, however the following U.S. patents are considered related:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 4,753,889 Collins 28 June 1988 3,909,598 Collins, et al 30 September 1975 ______________________________________
The 4,753,889 patent discloses a method and an apparatus for quantitatively measuring solids. The apparatus provides rapid and accurate determinations using microwave heating, electronic balance weighing and solvent extracting of solubles. The method involves subjecting a weighed sample to microwave drying for a preselected time, reweighing to obtain the dry weight and determine volatile loss, solvent extracting the dried sample to determine fats, oils and other extractables followed by final measurement of residual solids. The apparatus sequentially actuates the required weighing, microwave heating, solvent extraction, redrying, reweighing and calculation of the percentages of volatiles, solvent solubles and solids.
The 3,909,598 patent discloses an apparatus and method for automatically determining weight changes in substances containing volatile material. The apparatus automatically determines the percentage of volatiles in a substance which contains unknown quantities of moisture and the like. A digital panel meter provides a readout coupled with the ability to recall the original weight and the weight obtained after removal of the volatile material.